Vladimir Glumac of the Croatian Customs Administration said that the NCTS covered 4,000 customs offices in the 25 EU countries, the four countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Romania, which are signatories to the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure.
Within this twinning project Croatia is preparing its technical, organisation and personnel sectors for the signing of the Convention. The goal of the Customs Administration is to sign the convention before Croatia joins the EU, namely before the start of 2008.
The NCTS is based on electronic processes and the replacement of customs declarations and other paper documents with electronic messages that are exchanged between customs offices covered by the system. The uniform performance of those offices enables better transit control and insurance and faster customs procedure.
For the time being the NCTS refers only to road transport. The EU is preparing systems for railway, water and air transport. Croatia, which currently holds the status of a third country, will follow the development and implementation of those preparations until the systems are put into operation in 2010.